Labour and Tories tied in YouGov final call poll
Ed Miliband delivers his final rally speech
Cameron stages final election rally in Carlisle
Labour and Tories neck and neck in final Guardian/ICM poll
Cable says Lib Dems would take ‘strong position’ on EU in coalition talks
Axelrod says UK’s rightwing press is more aggressive than Fox News in US
YouGov poll says Labour and Tories are tied on 34% of the vote
Russell Brand had decided to back Labour before Miliband interview
11.10pm BST
Milifans. To debate or not to debate? Career-defining, I mean country-defining pitches. Plinth stones. Red lines, lots of red lines. Bus breakdowns. Mysterious back pain. A Celtic rebellion. Poorly larynxes. Brain freezes. Coalitions - deal or no deal? West Ham or Aston Villa? Pumped up! Long-term economic plans or better plans. Brains for Labour, hearts for the Tories. Tough on immigration, tough on landlords, tough on tax avoidance, tough on top-earners, tough on crime. Polls, polls, polls. Has it been a fun campaign? Hell yes!
#JeSuisEd pic.twitter.com/2vbO07AHfL
This is a real career-defining … country-defining election that we face in less than a week’s time.
10.23pm BST
You may have noticed the blog is running a little later tonight - we’ve just enjoyed the campaign so much we can’t let go. I’ll be signing off at 11pm so stick with us and keep the comments coming in below the line.
10.22pm BST
YouGov’s president Peter Kellner has predicted the Tories will beat Labour by 21 seats - going against his firm’s most recent and final poll that puts both parties neck and neck at 34%.
Peter Kellner’s final seat prediction - http://t.co/BMsbPpuVaX pic.twitter.com/TFmg7vFUf0
10.17pm BST
Tomorrow’s front pages are in. They’re dominated by endorsements or a flurry of photo-finish poll results.
Some say back the Tories, others say back Labour. One of them says back Ukip. Another says back the SNP. It’s now over to the voters.
Thursday's Guardian front page: It couldn't be closer #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/WyHrqo3j6D
Thursday's Sun front page: Well Hung #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/eLgfFbexsQ
Thursday's Times front page: Queen to take control of election aftermath #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/jN1YRr6ELz
Thursday's Daily Mirror front page: Send 'em Packing #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/ULeMMGislD
Thursday's Telegraph front page: Don't do something you'll regret #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/JTYoIcJ4Gi
Thursday's Daily Express front page: Vote to keep Britain Great #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #ge2015 pic.twitter.com/FpWWN9me8o
Thursday's The National front page: Today...Let's colour Scotland yellow #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/jmE7Icywqm
Thursday's FT: Oil price jump quickens sell-off in international debt markets #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/JMREfqfLSZ
Thursday's Daily Mail front page: Gagging of mother forced to hand baby to gay dad #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/PeiwXYc6Cx
Thursday's Scotsman front page: Final election polls put it neck-and-neck #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/Tjsj3XnPwF
Thursday's Daily Star front page: Never mind the ballots...here's the Daily Star Party party #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/SZYWjh8x5j
10.01pm BST
David Cameron and Ed Miliband will tomorrow issue final calls to back their respective parties when the polls open. It would be quite the story if the were to do anything else.
It’s the closest election for a generation. It’s the most important election for a generation. It is the clearest choice that has been put before the British people for a generation.
We have hours left to change the direction of our country, to build a Britain that succeeds because working people succeed.
So as you enter the voting booth, remember these simple things: you can stop Ed Miliband being held to ransom by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.
You can ensure strong and stable Government. You can secure our economy and the Union. You can ensure I am back at work as your Prime Minister on Friday.
10.01pm BST
Echoing the results of the Guardian/ICM poll published earlier today, YouGov’s final call poll for the Sun and the Times has Tories neck and neck at 34% (the Guardian/ICM had both parties at 35%).
YouGov Final Call poll for The Sun/The Times: Con 34%, Lab 34%, LD 10%, UKIP 12%, GRN 4% - http://t.co/BMsbPpuVaX
9.43pm BST
Sticking with Ukip, my colleague Ben Quinn has this update from Nigel Farage’s campaign trail.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has insisted that his party’s vote is “rock solid” and claimed that it was on course for an election breakthough with the help of many “shy” Ukip supporters who have gone below the radar on polling.
Nigel Farage at his eve of poll rally in Broadstairs https://t.co/5Vssl4MujJ
9.41pm BST
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has pulled out of answering questions from readers of PinkNews, the online newspaper for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
It is disappointing that Nigel Farage, having agreed to answer the questions of PinkNews readers has now at the last minute pulled out. As someone seeking to secure a national mandate, he does himself no favours to turn down the opportunity to address a significant proportion of the electorate. Unless of course, Nigel Farage doesn’t care about LGBT voters? Surely not.
9.20pm BST
How do I vote in the UK general election? What you need to know
More people have registered to vote than ever before. Between the middle of March and the deadline to register, nearly 2.3 million signed up, including more than 700,000 18- 24 year olds. Many voters will be voting in a general election for the first time.
Related: How do I vote in the UK general election? What you need to know
9.18pm BST
Charlie Brooker is giving his joyously cynical take on the election campaign now on his Election Wipe special on BBC Two.
Here’s a beginner’s guide to the election from earlier this week from Election Wipe’s star reporter Philomena Cunk.
9.11pm BST
Our BritainThinks focus group’s verdict on the campaign
On the eve of the election, what do the real voters think? We have 60 in five key seats giving their view throughout the campaign as part of our polling project with BritainThinks. They each have an app and are telling us what they think of stories as they crop up.
9.05pm BST
My colleague Rowena Mason was in Leeds for Miliband’s final rally speech. Here’s her verdict.
That was very much a core vote message from Ed Miliband, promising to end zero hours contracts, food banks, greedy hedge funds, dominance of Tory donors, and low wages. His pitch - as it has been consistently for the last few days - has been to urge a vote for Labour to stop a government of the rich and install a government for working people. He even took a swipe at “Calamity Clegg” for collaborating with the Tories - someone he could find himself negotiating with in the not too distant future of there is no obvious victor. The main aim appeared to be to galvanise his party faithful to knock on extra doors and get out the vote tomorrow, which could make all the difference to the result. He said he was very proud of them all for taking part in the biggest ever “people driven campaign” and promised to fight to the last breath to deliver for them. That is a sign he won’t go down without a battle of the outcome is unclear.
9.04pm BST
And he’s done it! Nick Clegg arrives in John O’Groats after setting off from Lands End 40 hours ago. He travelled by bus though, not by bicycle.
1,000 miles and 40 hours later, Nick Clegg completes his "odyssey". Next stop: the polls. pic.twitter.com/yu0ttzEC97
8.57pm BST
The Labour leader, just like the rest of us, can only sit back now and watch the swingometer as the results come in.
8.34pm BST
Ed Miliband exits with Justine to standing ovation. That's his work done. pic.twitter.com/kbG8m9ye2N
8.32pm BST
Finishing his final rally speech of the election campaign, Miliband issues an impassioned call on voters to back Labour.
Use your power for you, your family, and our NHS. Use your vote. Use your vote to vote for Labour and together we can put working families first.
8.30pm BST
The Labour leader builds up to his final rallying cry before the polls open in less than 12 hours.
For five years this country has been run for the richest and most powerful. But tomorrow is your day. Tomorrow it’s your voice that counts. Tomorrow you have the power to make Britain work for working people.
8.28pm BST
Miliband says the election comes down to a “clash of two completely different ideas”.
David Cameron believes that if the people on top do well, wealth will trickle down and all of Britain will prosper. We have a different idea. We believe that Britain succeeds when working people succeed.
8.27pm BST
Miliband says he will now aim to host six million conversations on the doorstep before the polls close tomorrow.
This has been the biggest people-driven campaign in history. At the start of this campaign I said that we wanted to have 4 million conversations in 4 months. To take our message to the village halls, community centres and workplaces across our country. Friends, thanks to your hard work, your commitment, your passion, we’ve smashed through that target. Today we hit 5 million conversations. Tomorrow it will be 6 million conversations.
8.24pm BST
Miliband says Britain needs a Labour plan and spells out some of the key policies he has rehearsed throughout the campaign.
We’ll reward hard work, he says. We believe in security at work. We’ll ban zero hours contracts, if you do regular hours in a Labour Britain you get a regular contract.
8.21pm BST
The Labour leader goes a bit panto as he asks the crowd if they support David Cameron with the NHS.
Do we support him with the national health service?
8.20pm BST
Miliband is now attacking the Tories record. He hits out at high food bank use, zero hours contracts.
David Cameron has ducked and dived, evaded and avoided. He wants to hide the truth. We know he’s planning to double the cuts next year. The most extreme cuts from a political party for a generation.
8.18pm BST
Miliband says Labour is fighting for all working people, not just those on six figure salary.
We’re fighting for the precious NHS, Miliband says, fighting for a more fair and tolerant Britain. This is the Britain I believe in.
8.16pm BST
The Labour leader is making his last address at a rally in Leeds before the polls open in less than 12 hours.
8.00pm BST
I enjoyed this from PA’s Kate Ferguson.
My favourite election fact of the day - dogs are allowed to come to the polling station, but ponies and horses must be tethered outside.
7.47pm BST
Sticking with Miliband, the Labour leader is gearing up for his final election rally in Leeds and supporters are queueing up to cheer him on. My colleague Rowena Mason has posted these images.
The giant queue of people in Leeds waiting to see Ed Miliband give his final campaign rally pic.twitter.com/hjJPfq4eN1
I've seen the inside of the Ed Miliband rally venue and I don't think all these people are going to squeeze in pic.twitter.com/gyYj6kvGd9
7.44pm BST
In a wonderful riposte to the Sun’s front page, in which the paper urges voters not to back Ed Miliband by recycling a 12-month old photo of the Labour leader eating a sandwich, Twitter users have posted dozens of images of themselves battling with bacon butties with the hashtag #JeSuisEd
This act of solidarity must make Miliband feel all warm inside.
#JeSuisEd pic.twitter.com/2vbO07AHfL
#JeSuisEd pic.twitter.com/TXgycPMPJP
#jesuisEd pic.twitter.com/gF19pKWC4Q
#JeSuisEd pic.twitter.com/V16OpoEbzz
7.34pm BST
My colleague Rowena Mason reports that Labour is preparing to fight any attempt by David Cameron to declare victory on Friday as leader of the largest party even if he does not have enough seats to command a majority.
She writes:
Miliband has spent the last two days repeatedly dodging questions about what he will do if he narrowly comes second, refusing to answer the question at least seven times. “I’m going to leave the commentary to others. My focus is not on the politicians but on the British people,” he said at a meeting of supporters in Pudsey, West Yorkshire.
But Labour aides have made clear they take the same position as constitutional experts and the former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell, who say there is no law giving the leader of the largest party the right to govern. “The rules are the rules,” one Labour adviser said – regardless of the political argument about legitimacy that Cameron may make.
7.32pm BST
The prime minister has posted his final rally speech in Carlisle on Soundcloud for you all to enjoy/loathe/share/ignore - delete as appropriate.
Britain's on the brink of something special - let's finish the job. My speech at tonight's big rally in Carlisle: http://t.co/GezZ3FGj7L
7.24pm BST
David Cameron has appealed for more time to build a better Britain as he insisted the election will “define a generation” in his final election address in Carlisle.
In a final rallying cry before the polls open tomorrow, the prime minister said he was not a “demented accountant” obsessed with eradicating the deficit - but aimed to make life better for hard-working people.
Rounding off a frantic 36-hour tour that aimed finally to break the deadlock with Labour, Mr Cameron told activists in the crucial marginal of Carlisle: “It comes down to a choice of leadership. Whether you want me to continue leading our country and taking it forward, or whether you want Ed Miliband to go back to the start and waste all the work of the last five years.
7.10pm BST
Two very senior figures from major trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party have told Channel 4 News that if the Tories get more seats than Labour this Friday – but not a majority – then Ed Miliband should immediately go for an anti-Tory pact with the Liberal Democrats.
One source told Channel 4 News that Miliband should even consider making the Liberal Democrats an offer on electoral reform.
Senior union figures tell me if Tories get most seats, Miliband should at once offer anti-Tory pact to Lib Dems, & even think of deal on PR
6.49pm BST
Here’s the election campaign’s final photo of the day from Stefan Rousseau, PA’s chief political photographer:
ELECTION Photo du Jour: David & Sam Cameron visit High Woods housing development in Lancaster. By Stefan Rousseau/PA pic.twitter.com/ALvYB21psL
6.19pm BST
The prime minister is making his final pre-election address to supporters in Carlisle. There won’t be a dry eye in the house, surely?
Here’s some early photos and reaction coming in from journalists on Twitter.
They like him in Carlisle. Last rally pic.twitter.com/tNirizdGMc
Distinctly less "pumped" performance from Cameron so far. Seems to have opted to finish with a calmer delivery mode
David Cameron in final #GE2015 rally urges party members in Carlisle to put in one final push. pic.twitter.com/XuLnTTKirV
Cameron's last stand in Carlisle: no tie? Tick. Sleeves rolled up? Tick. Pumped up? Tick. #GE2015
6.06pm BST
Whether you’re in the safest of seats, or one of the swing constituencies that could decide the next government, we’d like you to help us document the election where you live. Are politicians still canvassing in your area or is there no sense that voting day is only two weeks away? We’d like to see your photos and hear any stories that reflect the election in these last few days.
British general election: share what's happening where you are via @GuardianWitness http://t.co/E6MfTsUWwF pic.twitter.com/MoocMhOs8o
6.02pm BST
With Nick Clegg in Scotland on the final leg of his Yellow Bus odyssey from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and David Cameron due to make a flying and cursory visit later this evening, Ed Miliband will be the only main UK party leader not to visit Scotland on the final day of the campaign.
On the eve of the tightest general election in a generation my message to the people of Scotland is this: I understand the patriotism and pride you feel in your nation. I know you want change. And I know you want a more socially just and fairer country. That’s what I want too.
David Cameron is clear. If he has just one more MP than Labour he’ll try and stay in power. Any seat the SNP win from Labour in Scotland makes that more likely, and we’ll suffer five more years of cuts, food-banks and falling living standards.
5.52pm BST
Back in Ukip country, in Nigel Farage’s target constituency of South Thanet, my colleague Ben Quinn has this report.
Tensions have been boiling over a little bit in South Thanet, the constituency where Ukip leader Nigel Farage is bidding to win a seat in parliament.
Dan Thompson, a local artist and opponent of Ukip, claims that he was hit in the face by a man who drove up to him shortly after speaking to Farage on the street in the seaside town of Margate.
A Ukip spokesman said: “These are allegations made by people who are fervent anti-Ukip activists. And we must remember they are only allegations. But we condemn any intimidation or violence towards anybody, whether involved in this election or otherwise. We hope that all involved in this election of all parties condemn all the violence, vandalism and intimidation that has bedevilled this campaign across the country”.
A spokesman from Kent Police said: “Kent Police received a report of an assault which allegedly took place in the Northdown Road area of Margate on Wednesday 6 May. Initial enquiries are on-going.”
5.43pm BST
Sticking in Scotland, my colleague Severin Carrell has this report on warnings issued by police and election officials to polling stations after radical nationalists urged voters to photograph their ballot papers.
He writes:
Some pro-independence campaigners allege that last September’s independence referendum result was fixed. They claim that voting in Thursday’s general election could also be rigged, in an effort to prevent Scottish National party votes being properly counted.
Police and electoral officials placed the campaigners’ claims “in the context of conspiracy theories after the referendum”.
5.40pm BST
Looking to the Highlands, my colleague Frances Perraudin has interviewed chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander.
She writes:
The Liberal Democrat battle bus has just stopped at the Tomatin whisky distillery in the constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey, where the chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, is battling with the SNP to keep his seat. Nick Clegg and Alexander were given a brief tour and did a whisky tasting, before the Lib Dem leader boarded the bus again for the long journey to John O’Groats.
Alexander spoke to journalists about the question of whether a government of the second largest party could ever be legitimate. He repeated Clegg’s line that the second party should only form a government if the first party has exhausted its efforts to do so.
5.26pm BST
In Ramsgate, a plucky Nigel Farage has taken on a heckler, who accused the Ukip leader of being “sexist, racist, homophobic and a banker”.
Our video team has posted this clip.
5.15pm BST
Reaction to the latest Guardian/ICM poll showing Labour and Tories neck and neck is already coming through on Twitter.
Political blogger Sunny Hundal
Panic time at CCHQ. Polls start to converge, in Labour's favour! ICM today: CON - 35% LAB - 35% (+3) UKIP - 11% LDEM - 9% GRN - 3%
Guardian/ICM poll is first of campaign that has not had a Tory lead - also 73% 10/10 certain to vote - could be highest turnout for 18 years
The ICM 3% increase for LAB looks good for EdM and worrying for CON. Tonight's poll is first from firm since Jan that CON not ahead
4.55pm BST
Labour and the Conservatives are heading into Thursday’s general election neck and neck, tied at 35% each according to the preliminary results of the final Guardian/ICM campaign poll.
Ed Miliband’s party has pulled back three points on the previous campaign poll, published nine days ago, with the Conservatives remaining unchanged.
4.41pm BST
Here’s John Harris’s final pre-election report, which is humorous, revealing and even a little sad all at the same time.
4.21pm BST
My colleague Rowena Mason has been with Labour leader Ed Miliband as the closing stages of the election campaign unfold. He’s been in Garforth, west Yorkshire, meeting some of those so-called Milifans.
Ed Miliband arrives in Garforth to chants of Ed, Ed, Ed pic.twitter.com/z4UjRKJAKj
Some ordinary people actually gathering to get a glimpse of Miliband in Garforth cafe. But only supporters inside... pic.twitter.com/iWR2mwhCX6
School kids begging for selfies with Ed Miliband - he stops for a couple pic.twitter.com/wpT6I5pgJt
4.15pm BST
Editor of Politics Home Paul Waugh has written this detailed account of a day with Boris Johnson, mayor of London and Tory candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
The thing about London is it is already a major department of state. It’s difficult to see how I…I could not run a big spending department at the same time as the mayoralty. I don’t see how that works, unless you sort of amalgamate it into ‘London and…’ But it’s not going to happen.
4.00pm BST
At UK Polling Report Anthony Wells has a useful blog about the key election battlegrounds.
Brave man, he has also posted his predictions.
I generally hold to the pollsters’ maxim of snapshot not prediction, so I avoid predictions like the plague for most of the Parliament as the polls may yet change. In 2010 I waited until after the final polls were done before getting off the fence, but it gave me very little time to actually write anything, so this year I’ve done it up front. Obviously if Wednesday’s final polls do show the Conservatives eeking out a small lead I’ll reconsider and make my prediction more Conservative – when the facts change, I changed my mind. As it is though, my personal best guess is Conservatives around 277 seats, Labour around 267, the Lib Dems around 29 and the SNP around 52. I’ll revisit those once we have the final polls.
3.54pm BST
The final Daily Politics debate in this at-times illuminating series was about “trust” and if the wriggling by today’s participants to dodge questions was reflective of the broader political system, then it’s clear why trust has become such an inflammatory issue among the electorate. If it was former Tory leader William Hague on net migration targets, Labour’s Harriet Harman on post-election deals, Lib Dem’s Baroness Brinton on so-called red lines, Ukip’s Diane James on proportional representation or SNP’s Alyn Smith on the likelihood of another Scottish independence referendum - all five attempted at some point to shift the focus from the topic at hand and apparently without a sniff of irony when considering this was supposed to be debate on trust.
Amid the defensive manoeuvring, there were a few telling and amusing moments.
We have said what will be in our Queen’s Speech and what will be in our budget.... What we’ve done is said this will be our Queen’s Speech and we’re not going to negotiate away things we’ve said are in the country’s interest. We’ve said absolutely clearly, no coalition, no tying, no negotiation.
People want clarity, not shady deals.
It was very important for us to narrow down and focus on what we were saying about the health service, about the minimum wage, about jobs. We had been a bit of a shambles with everybody saying different things. What we then did is we said, with the British people, if we are asking them to vote Labour we need to be clear with them and consistent with our promises.... Telling lies is a bad thing but having a coherent message is a good thing.
No we’ve not lost it. I can tell you where the pink bus is?
3.53pm BST
This is quite useful.
here's a round-up of every seat prediction I could find for tomorrow's UK general election; shout if I've missed any. pic.twitter.com/5AAkKQ0QZm
3.33pm BST
There have been almost no coverage of the local elections taking place tomorrow, despite the fact that more than 9,000 council seats are up for election, making this the biggest contest in the regular four-year local election cycle.
If you are interested, there is a very helpful briefing about the elections here (pdf), on the Political Studies Association website. It has been written by the local election experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher.
3.23pm BST
Ed Miliband hinted at two further red lines as he spoke in Pudsey, west Yorkshire, after saying he would not lead a government unless it abolished non dom status.
3.22pm BST
The Guardian’s picture editors have launched a gallery of the best images of the final day of campaigning. Though obviously there will be some cracking polling day images tomorrow to look out for.
Today’s Jim-Murphy-pulls-a-funny-’playing-with-children’-face is this one:
Related: Election photo highlights: baking, bad weather … and child's play
3.21pm BST
Gary Lineker has joined those having a go at the Sun over its front page.
I'll keep who I vote for to myself, but I doubt I'll be influenced by the manner in which someone eats a bloody sandwich.
3.17pm BST
There’s been grudging praise for Ed Miliband from Fraser Nelson editor of the Tory-backing Spector magazine.
3.14pm BST
No matter the election result, Trident is here to stay
Amid all the uncertainties of the general election, one thing is predictable. Britain’s nuclear weapons system is not only here to stay, it will be upgraded.
Related: No matter the election result, Trident is here to stay
3.11pm BST
Opinium has released its final poll.
FINAL Opinium poll for #GE2015: @Conservatives hold onto their 1 point lead http://t.co/Zy7DiS2mvJ pic.twitter.com/QZj6cTNrXy
3.09pm BST
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has reacted to Nick Clegg’s refusal to be part of a government that campaigned for getting out of Europe, pointing out this would impact any Tory-Lib Dem coalition.
He told the Guardian:
Nick Clegg seems to have revealed that if there’s another Con-Lib coalition, Mr Cameron will have to campaign for an ‘in’ vote during an EU referendum, if indeed he intends to give the British people a say at all, which is still in doubt.
But what Clegg’s statement really belies is his arrogance towards the British public. It shouldn’t, and won’t be for the government to decide about coming out of the EU. It should be the will of the British people in a free and fair referendum, as soon as possible.
2.51pm BST
David Cameron has said that he would only form a government if he could have a referendum on the EU. Nick Clegg has made it clear that this is not a formal “red line” issue for the Lib Dems, and that the party could potentially sign up to a coalition committed to a referendum. But Vince Cable has said that the Lib Dems are “strongly opposed”, and suggested that, if this is not a form a formal red line, it might just as well be.
Clegg’s decision to put Europe into the negotiating pot has shocked businessmen who previously regarded him as one of the most reliable pro-European politicians at Westminster.
However Business for New Europe, the main pro-Europe business group, is not going to criticise Clegg since some of its members believe a 2017 referendum controlled by the Lib Dems, and with a Conservative prime minister fundamentally well disposed to Europe, is a better bet than an an in/out referendum held in 2020 led by a full-blooded Eurosceptic Tory leader. If there is to be a day of reckoning, it is better now, it is argued.
2.15pm BST
Here are the key quotes from Vince Cable on the Conservatives’ proposed EU referendum.
We think that the idea of a 2017 referendum is a seriously bad idea. We are not opposed to referendums in principle. We have already agreed in parliament that, should the treaty arrangements change, the British people should be consulted. But we think it’s a very, very bad idea that, at a time when the British economy is still recovering and we need to concentrated all our efforts there, we’re going to spend two year navel-gazing about our future in Europe, and we don’t know what the outcome would be.
All kinds of potential uncertainties are being created for people who want to invest their money building factories here, as business secretary a point often made to me by Japanese, Indian, American and other companies. “We just need to know where you are”, and being part of the European single market is part of the certainty that they demand.
2.01pm BST
Good afternoon, Jamie Grierson here. I’m tuning in to the Daily Politics debate on BBC Two now. It’s all about “trust in politics” – or perhaps lack thereof – so expect expenses, cash-for-access (and maybe even plebs) to crop up.
The former Tory leader William Hague, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, Lib Dem’s Sal Brinton, Ukip’s Diane James and the SNP’s Alyn Smith are all featuring. I won’t post a minute-by-minute account, rather flag up stand-out moments.
1.56pm BST
Cable says he would like to see tax credits and child benefit protected.
1.52pm BST
Q: You said in February that there was no taboo to working with the SNP.
Cable says the Lib Dems have now ruled out a relationship with the SNP, because they want to break up the UK, just as they have ruled out a relationship with Ukip.
1.50pm BST
Cable says that he is a politician of the left. Working with the Tories was not easy, he said. He did not feel “comfortable” about it. But he said personal preferences were not what mattered.
1.50pm BST
Cable says that Labour had some responsibility for the financial crash, but says that the crash was not caused by Labour spending too much.
1.48pm BST
Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, is on Radio 4’s Election Call now.
Q: Will the Lib Dems make sure that, if there is another coalition with the Tories, they won’t allow this EU referendum go ahead.
1.45pm BST
On election’s eve, Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland discusses the campaign with two special guests: TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp and artist Grayson Perry.
1.41pm BST
This is interesting - the speech Ramsay MacDonald gave in the Commons when he took power in 1924, despite Labour not being the largest party. He said Labour would have to be less partisan than otherwise, and he accepted that he would lose votes on some issues.
1.31pm BST
Labour’s Alastair Campbell has been making the same point at Gus O’Donnell (see 1.27pm) on Twitter - only rather more bluntly.
Hey up @David_Cameron did you read this before you signed it off? Time to memorize the last four lines pic.twitter.com/TIJrvbGLxR
1.27pm BST
On the Today programme this morning Gus O’Donnell (or Lord O’Donnell, as he is now), the former cabinet secretary, made it clear that there is nothing illegitimate about the second largest party in the Commons forming a government provided it can command the confidence of the Commons. Tories are challenging this idea, and it is due to become a central issue of debate after the election.
On the Daily Politics O’Donnell repeated this line and added some new points.
One thing I should say about the cabinet manual. People keep saying it is my cabinet manual. It is the government’s cabinet manual. It is the cabinet’s cabinet manual in particular, and the preface is there signed by the prime minister, David Cameron.
I’ll be in London at various studios trying to ensure that those interpretations that come out of the exit poll at one minute past 10 are actually in line with what’s in the cabinet manual, and people aren’t saying “Oh well, I think I’ve got a chance because I got this number of seats or whatever.”
1.16pm BST
There are some perks to being on the Lib Dem battlebus (modest ones).
Clegg has just given journos on the bus Henderson's relish crisps (a Sheff delicacy). He gave them to the cabinet too pic.twitter.com/LeMSHPfM2V
1.10pm BST
Dennis Canavan, the former Labour MP, has backed the SNP. Canavan sat in the Scottish parliament for eight years as an independent MP (after Labour would not let him stand as a candidate) and was a leading pro-independence campaigner last year. He said:
Many traditional Labour voters have been sickened by the sight of Labour in bed with the Tories, and not just during the referendum campaign.
Labour is also in cahoots with the Tories by supporting the benefit cap and more savage cuts in essential services while spending billions of pounds on weapons of mass destruction like Trident.
Although I do not endorse every aspect of SNP policy, I am asking people to vote SNP in this General Election because all the unionist parties have lost the plot and are completely out of touch with the people of Scotland.
1.01pm BST
A ComRes poll of voters who were undecided at the start of the campaign has found that more than half of them are still undecided (13%) or not entirely sure who they will vote for (42%).
12.50pm BST
Labour has got a 13-point lead over the Conservatives in London, according to the Evening Standard.
Ed Miliband enters his final day of campaigning with Labour 13 points ahead among Londoners, according to research conducted by YouGov for the Evening Standard. Labour is up two points in a fortnight to hit 46 per cent — its best share since November 2013.
David Cameron’s Conservatives are up one point to 33 per cent, while Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats are up one point to be third with nine per cent.
12.46pm BST
Tory battle buses have arrived at building site nr Chester Zoo. Looks like they could be building Jurassic Park here pic.twitter.com/gZWfsIz4xX
12.43pm BST
Ed Miliband is making three campaign stops in the north of England today. At the first, in Colne, Pendle, he received a pretty rapturous reception. Sure, they were all Labour supporters but he still managed to pack out a theatre in a small Lancashire town with hundreds of people in the middle of a very rainy day. His speech was all about urging swing voters to resist the siren voices of the Tories and calling on his party faithful to drop everything, even DIY and social engagements, to knock on that extra door before the end of tomorrow.
When the media started asking questions, he answered almost every one, no matter the subject, by hammering home his core message about the choice between a Tory government for the rich and a Labour government for working people.
12.41pm BST
Making hand prints and high-fiving toddlers in a Greenock nursery this morning, Jim Murphy was once again campaigning with all the energy and enthusiasm of a man who is not facing a massive poll defeat tomorrow. Say what you like about Murphy, and many people do, but he is a true pro at this game.
Asked about Ed Miliband’s monstering by the Sun this morning - in Scotland the bespoke front page is of Gordon Brown as Labour’s emergency life-belt - he said: “If politics is reduced to a contest over who can eat a sandwich with the greatest sense of etiquette then our politics has descended into new depths of triviality. But you can’t stop people trivialising an enormous decision, just as you can’t stop some people backing different parties north and south of the border for the same purpose.”
We should never in the name of nationalism confuse party with country ... We should never confuse those people who love the SNP with those who love our country.
12.38pm BST
Nick Clegg, who is on the last leg of his epic Land’s End to John O’Groats campaign tour, has just been visiting Jo Swinson in East Dunbartonshire.
He gave a speech to supporters in Bearsden, just outside Glasgow, saying that, although the party was “written off” at the beginning of the election campaign, they would be the “surprise story of the election”.
We are going to do so much better than anybody thinks. I’ve seen it for myself in seats across the country these last few weeks.
There’s a momentum building behind our candidates in those seats where we are there in numbers, getting our message across loudly and proudly.
The Conservative party has now mutated into an English party chasing Ukip votes in Southern England. It has got barely any representation in Scotland ... David Cameron has given up even pretending to seek a mandate as prime minister for the whole of the United Kingdom.
12.35pm BST
In his speech in Colne (see 11.36am) Ed Miliband said he was asking people to vote for Labour, not just for the party, but for themselves.
He has set out the same message in a post on Facebook. Here’s an excerpt.
I’m not asking you to vote simply for Labour tomorrow. I’m asking you to vote for yourself and your family, to vote to reward hard work again for everyone in our country, to vote to build a future for all our young people, to vote to rescue our NHS, and, above all, to vote for a country where we put working families first. That’s what’s on the ballot paper.
I’m not simply asking you to reject the Conservatives but to reject their plan to put the rich and powerful first, to reject a plan to double the cuts next years and devastate our NHS, to reject a plan for a recovery that only reaches the City of London, to reject a plan that leaves young people having a worse life than their parents.
12.31pm BST
Nigel Farage has suggested that a failure by him to win the East Kent constituency of South Thanet would mark the end of the road for his decades-long search to get elected.
The Ukip leader was in a characteristically chirpy mood as he strolled through the centre of Ramsgate this morning, stopping at one point to debate an anti-Ukip activist who followed him and a press pack through the seaside town.
The number of second places we get long term is very important but I think actually our biggest potential as a party going forward is going to be in the midlands and the north in those Labour areas.
Windy conditions for Ukip https://t.co/TtHbhGndpa
Euphoria among press photographers as Nigel Farage poses under this doorway with scrawled graffiti #ge2015 pic.twitter.com/OVlQ9wdx8I
12.22pm BST
Talking of Andrew Neil, a Daily Politics outside broadcast has just been disrupted by a protester.
12.16pm BST
For more on the election coverage in the rightwing press, this Huffington Post article is good. It quotes Andrew Neil, the BBC presenter and former Sunday Times editor, saying we have seen the press “at [its] partisan worst”.
12.13pm BST
11.58am BST
David Axelrod, the American political consultant and Obama adviser who has been working for Labour during this campaign, has given an interview to Michael Goldfarb from Politico. It’s well worth reading in full, but here are the key points.
POLITICO: But what about the press? You say it has disproportionate power here. Do you think Britain’s conservative print media is more powerful than Fox News?
DA: Yeah, I do. I do think the parties approach media as partisan players. So you see parties disseminating messages through the print media in a way that is unusual ...
POLITICO: Finally, we’re heading for a hung Parliament and what is likely to be a bruising fight outside the voting booth for who forms the next government. There are echoes of Bush v Gore in this. Do you think Miliband, like Gore, will fold his hand when pressed by the Conservatives?
DA: The one thing that people consistently have done is underestimate Miliband’s mettle. You learn about people in a campaign.
I think the Tory campaign has not been a particularly good one on the whole. They put too much truck in two things.
One: They felt that the recovery of the macro economy translated into a sense of progress and security in the lives of everyday people and that simply wasn’t true. The second, they thought that caricature of Miliband would carry through the election.
The one thing they did that was particularly shrewd was they insisted that all the parties participate in the debate. They didn’t do that out of a sense of equity and fairness. They did it because they wanted to give the Scottish National Party a platform and the result is the situation you see today.
11.48am BST
Q: You have talked about getting rid of non-dom status as a red line. Is that an admission that you won’t win a majority?
11.47am BST
Q: Some people think you are too leftwing. Why should you be prime minister on Friday?
Because the British people deserve a prime minister who will put working people first, Miliband says.
11.46am BST
Q: Have you done enough? Will you be the next prime minister?
Miliband says that he is confident, but that it is now a decision for the British people.
11.45am BST
Q: Papers like the FT say you are not ready to be prime minister. Are you ready?
Yes, says Miliband.
11.42am BST
Miliband is running through Labour’s key campaign pledges.
Labour will abolish non-dom status, he says.
That’s why we need a Labour government.
11.38am BST
Miliband says Labour has had the most people-driven campaign in its history.
He says he set an unreasonable demand: 4m doorstep conversations from activists.
11.38am BST
What do the real voters think? We have 60 in five key seats giving their view throughout the campaign as part of our polling project with BritainThinks. They each have an app and are telling us what they think of stories as they crop up.
Here are some of their views on the eve of polling day, on issues from the likelihood of another coalition to the tactics parties use to sweeten voters up.
11.36am BST
Ed Miliband is giving a speech in Colne. You can watch a livestream of it below.